A newly-formed trust hopes to save what it calls a “200-year-old Millennium Dome” by taking over the derelict Rotunda near Woolwich Common to turn it into an events venue.
The Rotunda Trust has joined forces with the Greenwich Enterprise Board to bid for the historic building, which was originally erected in Westminster but was moved to Woolwich in 1820 and has been put up for sale by the Ministry of Defence.
For nearly 180 years the distinctive building, designed by John Nash, housed the Royal Artillery’s museum. But that closed in 1999 with the collection moved to the ill-fated Firepower attraction in the Royal Arsenal. The Rotunda was placed on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk register in 2007 with its most recent use being as a boxing gym.
The trust wants the Rotunda restored so it can host community and commercial events, as well as live music and theatre, as well as opening it to visitors for the first time in more than a quarter of a century.
“The people of Woolwich should be able to walk into this building, see the 1814 timber roof above them, and feel that it belongs to them,” the trust says.
Greenwich Enterprise Board, meanwhile, would let space to small businesses in an outbuilding next to the Rotunda, which is off Repository Road. It already operates commercial units at other historic sites, such as the Royal Arsenal Gatehouse in Woolwich and the Orangery in Eltham.
Michael Trousdell, a director of the trust, said it was a “travesty” that the building had been left unused for so long.
“It was one of the very first museums to be built and was also a event space, ballroom, and was linked to the European history of the time,” said Trousdell, a chartered mechanical engineer who is a director of WSP, one of the world’s leading engineering and environmental consultancy firms.
“The abdication of Napoleon in 1814 prompted George IV to get excited and he ordered 20 pavilions to be installed in his garden at Carlton House, and this was the centrepiece. It was built in ten weeks and the carpenters complained about having to work from dawn to dusk to build the thing.”
Trousdell’s colleagues at WSP have supported the bid. One, Matthew Woodward, says in a video promoting the bid: “This was built for a celebration – it’s really a 200-year-old Millennium Dome. It would be great to see this brought back into use rather than sitting derelict as it is now.”
Experts who worked on the recreation of the Globe Theatre in Southwark are also on board with the project, part of which will involve repairing roof trusses which have failed and have already needed emergency work to be carried out, with scaffolding holding them up. “Every single winter the building suffers,” Trousdell said.
But much of the structure remains in good condition. “It’s astounding, it’s been there since 1819 holding up a very heavy lead roof,” he said, adding that the solidity of the structure, and its capacity, meant that it would suit live music and performance. “The brick walls and lead roof are very good for holding sound in.”
The cost of the restoration work is estimated at between £3.5 million and £6.5 million, he said, and the building could be back in full use in as little as two years.
Trousdell was inspired to work on the Rotunda through working on a campaign to protect Our Lady of Grace Church in Charlton and neighbouring Highcombe House, and realising how little attention was paid to many of the borough’s historic sites beyond the world heritage site in Greenwich itself.
“If the Rotunda, or Charlton House, were in literally any other borough in the country, they would be front and centre, the pride of local stakeholders and the council,” he said.
“But because we have this wealth of heritage in the Greenwich Unesco site, these buildings, which are of national significance, are left unascended.”
He said people could support the campaign by raising awareness and finding organisations that could sponsor and assist the restoration, or people who could bring expertise.
“I meet people who remember going to the Rotunda as children when it was open for school trips,” he said. Would people like their children to visit this again? My daughters haven’t heard of it because there’s no school trips there these days.
“I genuinely think the building tells its own story. Whenever I take someone to see it, they come away motivated to help.”
Last month Greenwich Council published a masterplan for Woolwich Barracks, including the Rotunda. The Ministry of Defence is still due to put most of the site up for sale by 2028, under plans set out by the previous government.
To find out more, visit rotundatrust.org.uk.
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